FABLE review: A dance production buckling under the problems of modern life

The Human Collective's lively production for young audiences ushers street dance into the theatre. 

Project Arts Centre (Upstairs), Dublin Fringe Festival

Sep 10-16

My review of FABLE by Matt Szczerek coming up just as soon as I hop on an escalator ...

With portrayal of events that are fictional, yet resonant with real surroundings, fables have endured for centuries. It stands to reason, then, a new story might help put shape on the malaise in the present. 

For their debut, Human Collective presents a lively dance-theatre production for young audiences. Ushering street dance into the theatre, choreographer Matt Szczerek explores the narrative possibilities of funk rhythms and hip-hop techniques throughout five “short stories”. 

One story, presented in a scintillating quartet, depicts a surprise struggle between a farmer and the locusts attacking his crop. Acrobatic movement unlocks gestures of hostility and resistance, with razor-sharp kicks and spins making for a thrilling spectacle. 

Szcwerek doesn’t always put the same faith in the suggestive qualities of his choreography. The locking can become particularly literal, holding positions that resemble more a descriptive mime than an explorative dance.

The stories structured by writer Liam McCarthy sometimes come with prolix titles (“The Last Stays of an Ignorant Man”) are can be vague. In one duet a man bends and warps, even freezing in a headspin (Cristian Dirocie) under the influence of a lab coat-wearing oppressor (Tobi Balogun). It’s technically impressive but difficult to guess the point.

There’s clarity elsewhere, in a solo where Szcwerek, backed by slick images of a labyrinthine office building in Cathy Coughlan’s film design, risks becoming drained by corporate life. Later, during a stunning flip, Leon Dwyer appears set to fall on his face, in a quartet about climate change that ends with dancers writhing like wilting flowers. 

Such moments are interesting but the overall effect is one of disconnect, like a dance production buckling under the problems of modern life.